On-line sale performed in the Internet has become popular. In such a sale system, sold products are ranked, and the ranking is displayed in a terminal device, so that a purchaser obtains a standard for selecting products. FIG. 57 shows an example where sold CDs are ranked so that titles thereof and artist names thereof are displayed in the terminal device.
Further, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 171504/1997 (Tokukaihei 9-171504) (Publication date: Jun. 30, 1997) recites an information processing device and an information processing method such that: a user subjectively evaluates a predetermined target product such as a book and a music software by voting, and a total of votes are calculated so as to rank the target product, so that which product is highly evaluated is indicated to the user.
Incidentally, in the on-line sale of digital contents such as music distribution service, it is possible to purchase a favorite combination of contents by making selection from a large number of contents, for example, the user makes a single music album by combining his/her favorite songs. Further, in sale of a personal computer and the like, there is a sale style which enables subtle customization, for example, selection is made with respect to types of CPU and capacity of a memory or a hard disk, or option parts are purchased in combination, which is known as BTO (Build To Order). In this way, recently, it becomes often that the user selects desired items from a plurality of selection items so as to make a combination of the selected items.
However, in case of combining individual products, there occurs mismatch in terms of an object in purchasing the combination of selected products, for example, there occurs imbalance in terms of rhythm or tempo between the selected songs constituting the music album when the aforementioned music album is made, or there occurs a combination which is inappropriate for a specific usage such as formation of computer graphics when the aforementioned personal computer is targeted.
However, in the conventional method of informing the ranking, products are separately targeted upon making the ranking. Thus, the purchaser cannot obtain a standard for combining a plurality products or selection items, so that the purchaser does not know “which combination satisfies his/her needs in purchasing”. This brings about such a problem that: even when the user makes a combination of plural items by referring to the ranking as a standard, the combination tends to lack in the uniformity and to be imbalanced.
Further, in the information processing device and the information processing method recited in Tokukaihei 9-171504, a target item is ranked by calculating (a) the number of times the target item is accessed, and (b) a point obtained and inputted by subjectively evaluating the target item, and similar manners, so as to determine where the target item is ranked. This brings about such a problem that: a standard for evaluation is not clear, so that it is not clear which basis supports the obtained evaluation.
That is, in case of the aforementioned music album, when an album constituted of songs based on a certain theme is made, only subjective evaluation based on personal preference can be obtained, so that it is difficult to realize the uniformity in the entire album with good balance. Further, when there is no evaluating user, it is impossible to obtain the evaluation, or when there are few evaluating users performing, adequacy of the evaluation is low.
Further, in an on-line sale site for selling combination of plural products or plural selective items as described above, a purchaser selects respective products or respective selective items so as to determine which combination is to be purchased, or a seller makes a product set constituted of plural products or plural selective items in advance, and the purchaser purchases the product set as it is or partially changes the product set before purchasing.
The product set made in advance is made by a seller who manages the on-line sale site. Alternately, as recited in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 320457/1998 (Tokukaihei 10-320457)(Publication date: Dec. 4, 1998), there is such a method that: plural products frequently ordered at the same time are combined with each other in accordance with order history information indicative of (a) products ordered at the same time by a single order maker and (b) the number of the products, so that the product set is automatically made based on the sale history.
However, in the conventional method in which the purchaser selects products or selective items so as to determine a combination to purchase, there is such a problem that the purchaser is bothered to make selection. Further, there is such a problem that: in a case where the purchaser has little knowledge of the products and the selective items, there is no standard to make selection, so that it is difficult to make an appropriate combination that satisfies an object of purchase.
Further, in the method in which the seller makes the product set in advance, the seller is bothered to make the product set.
The operation/sale management method recited in Tokukaihei 10-320457 is to solve the foregoing problems, but there is such a problem that: a large quantity of order history information is required in extracting products for making the product set, so that it is impossible to extract products including a product that has never been sold. Thus, there is such a problem that: only the combination of products ordered at the same time by a single order maker is to be extracted, so that types of the product set automatically made are limited to some extent.
Further, the operation/sale management method recited in Tokukaihei 10-320457 merely proposes the method of automatically making the product set, so that this does not solve the conventional problem such that it is difficult for the purchaser to obtain the product set suitable for the object of the purchase.